


Perfect/Imperfect Timing

by HalcyonFrost



Series: Gifts and Prompts [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Confessions, Embarrassment, M/M, Misunderstandings, One Shot, Prompt Fic, Shapeshifting, Sirens, non-specific setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-07-29 13:04:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16264769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalcyonFrost/pseuds/HalcyonFrost
Summary: Tony didn't believe in myths and legends and folklore. Even when Norse gods and Titans showed up, they were aliens, and that was a perfectly logical explaination to the tales of yore. Somehow, Tony didn't think to make the leap that other beings of legends could be real too.





	Perfect/Imperfect Timing

**Author's Note:**

> **Waiting for me to update fics like:**  
>  ,  
> 
> 
> So anyway, this was for the prompt "dude why did that siren take on my image to try and seduce you, is there something you wanna tell me” au. Stars showed me the prompt a while ago from one of the lists she'd found, and naturally, she went for Loki feels, and I went for the Tony feels. xP So enjoy and don't forget to check out her fic as well! I conveniently put a link in the end note so y'all don't forget~ ;3

This was... awkward. 

To be fair, Tony thought he should have been warned that there was a subset of mind-reading shapeshifters on this planet and that a number of them used their power to seduce and rob people blind before their victims knew what was really going on. Go figure. You could find anything on some other planet in the ass-end of the galaxy. It would have been nice to know this _before_ Loki walked in on Tony with someone he was just now realizing was not actually Loki though. And here Tony had thought his subtle flirtations had finally broken down the god's barriers. Seemed he literally could kiss that progress goodbye.

Ten minutes ago, they were enjoying themselves blending into the crowd of some big celebration in the local country's capital city, and diversity reigned the planet with humanoid species no strange sight. Loki and Tony had been keeping to themselves a bit before Loki stepped away but - or so Tony thought - he didn't stay away long. Perhaps it was suspicious that Loki was more affectionate upon his sudden return, but Tony had hoped it was the drink getting to their heads when Loki took Tony's hand while leaning in to make suggestions in Tony's ear of finding somewhere more private. Tony had been _ecstatic_ and without hesitation, took the lead in taking Loki away to the room they had been staying in.

Tony had been delighted that Loki finally made a move. But that was when Tony thought the Loki leading him to bed was the Loki that Tony had actually been pursuing the romantic attentions of for a solid six months. It took just a moment of glancing at the frustrated face of the Loki kneeling over Tony and then the shocked face of the Loki at the door for Tony to realize he made a huge fucking mistake, and the position that Tony had been enjoying suddenly felt very, very wrong. The real Loki's surprise quickly traded for brief hurt and then closed off into annoyance and anger focused at his doppelganger. 

"You've chosen your victim unwisely this time." Loki stepped forward threateningly and the false-Loki drew back, their hands sliding away from where they had been under Tony's shirt and very luckily, that had been as far as they had gotten. "I suggest you leave." 

It felt wrong, and Tony wasn't entirely sure why or how this was his life. "What-" 

"I believe your earth equivalent is called a siren." Loki cut to the point, glaring directly at the withdrawing being. "They choose a form that you would let your guard down around and use it to entice you somewhere private. Their kiss contains a venom that renders most unconscious and disorients even the strongest beings. If you're lucky, they'll only take valuable _material_ possessions of yours while you're unaware. Some have lost much more to more malicious beings."

"And here I was curious to go farther with this one." The not-Loki, the _siren_ , spoke with Loki's voice and managed to sound completely unlike him now. Had he before? Was Tony too blinded before or was this siren just dropping the act? But when they looked down at Tony again, it was definitely too different from the Loki Tony had known well. And even without the supposed venomous kiss, Tony's head swam like he'd just downed something potent. "Shame," the siren said with a sickly grin that looked worse by how much it didn't fit the expressions that were found on Loki's face, "he is cute. And obviously you weren't doing anything worthwhile with him," they threw an accusing glance at Loki, "so why shouldn't I have given him the thrill he wanted?" 

" _Leave._ " Loki growled again. "And shed that skin on your way out. Or else I will take it from you myself." 

The siren pulled themselves from the bed as Tony shrunk away, shuffling backwards out of range quickly and flattening himself to the headboard. While the siren got to their feet, within the single slow and fluid movement of straightening and pulling themselves up to their full height, their figure shifted form with a ripple of pearlescent white like a literal shedding of skin. The real being left still seemed humanoid at first glance - tall and lean with dark circles under their eyes and sallow skin that somehow managed to have an illusion like lenticular lenses where sections of skin in the right light or angle seemed to glint of barely visible scales. Their clothes were nothing more than an unremarkable and simple sleeveless bodysuit in a murky greenish-grey tint that looked fitted for convenience more than style as well as tall dark boots. Lastly, their hair was closely-shaved on the sides and left in a voluminous and faintly green fauxhawk on top, adding to the completely genderless appearance that Tony probably shouldn't have been surprised was how a shapeshifter would look without any masks. Their pitch dark eyes stared right back at Loki, uncowed at the pressure of a god's glare. They seemed less threatened and more calculating, which, when faced with what Loki was radiating off, made Tony's gut clench and sink like a rock at the thought of this apparently very strong and confident being that very literally had Tony in their clutches just seconds ago. 

The siren just tilted their head in consideration before their thin lips curled in a comfortable grin. Accepting and giving in only because they already lost the chance to get what they came for, not because they actually felt pressure. "So protective. No wonder you were on his mind." The look they threw back at Tony was almost flirtatious, and for once, Tony was utterly unsure how to deal with the attention. "It's a good thing too; if he's so valuable that you came looking for him this fast, once I had him, I might not have let him go." And with a final smirk back at Tony, the siren leisurely strode across the room, ducking around Loki, and out of the room. 

Both god and the mortal tensely watched the siren go, and once the door closed, leaving the two alone, Tony's words rushed out of him. "Loki, I can explain-"

"Explain what?" Loki looked back with narrowed eyes and another cautious step closer. "That you only went with them so quickly because you thought they were me?"

Right. He was so preoccupied with trying to explain away why he almost went to bed with someone that he forgot that the someone he went to bed with looked like Loki. Instead of the good reasoning that should have come out, the excuses faltered and fizzled out, leaving his mouth to just gape open like a fish with nothing coming out. 

"It should be said too that they read minds for that very reason-" Loki continued as he took another step, "to choose a face you're most likely to abscond with."

"Um." Tony managed intelligently.

Finally, Loki's shell cracked with an amused smile. "So it seems you don't need to explain anything. Actions do speak louder, I remember you telling me." 

Tony stared for a long moment while Loki just watched him right back. "You're not hating me for the fact that I almost slept with someone that looked like you?"

"Not hating _you_ , just hating the circumstance. Especially as I'd rather you actually sleep with _me_ rather than almost lay with a _lookalike_."

Oh. Damn. That struck Tony like a mack truck. He could practically feel the gears of his mind grind to a painful and befuddled stop as Loki finally paused his slow walk right before Tony's bedside. "You... you mean you-"

"Want you." He finished to save Tony the time. "We've been dancing around it for a time, so it seems the appropriate time to be clear: I." Loki raised his fingers to tilt Tony's chin upwards. "Want." The hand flattened to drag his palm down Tony's chest while Loki in. " _You._ " Every syllable was punctuated with a touch or movement closer until his breath could be felt gusting Tony's cheek and Tony felt light-headed in much more pleasant ways than just seconds earlier.

His heart swelling in his chest, Tony's eyes were trying to fall shut, except that he wanted to see the moment that Loki's did the same. "I want you too."

"Obviously." Loki teased. "That surprise has passed."

"Shut up already." Grabbing the front of Loki's shirt, Tony jerked him down until their lips crashed together in a hard kiss, rough and awkward with the angle, but it didn't matter because they were enthusiastically against Tony's own, and Tony's head was swimming for a whole different reason now. Somehow, Tony got the strength to pull back, to stare back at Loki's darkening eyes. "Your kiss isn't going to knock me out, is it?"

"Only when I'm thoroughly done with you," the hands on his chest felt right this time, like Loki, like all that Tony wanted for months, "and that won't be for quite a few hours." Loki moved to climb on top, but Tony stopped him with a palm to his chest. 

"Maybe I'll start on top." And when his stomach still clenched at the thought, Tony had to grimace. "And maybe tomorrow." He glanced at the door. "After certain things from tonight are not as close to the surface."

Loki's grimace was tempered by an attempt to smile, but the look was still understanding. It was hard to get it up for your paramour when Tony could still feel the hands of a lookalike on his skin. He didn't want to compare Loki's touch to the siren that looked like him; he just wanted to feel and enjoy Loki as Loki, and that might take a little purposeful forgetting of said ruinous creature. 

"That's fair." Loki still shifted to sit on the bed by Tony's hip, still cradled his cheek with genuine affection that couldn't be faked. "I think I can wait a little longer." He dropped his hand to Tony's hand, trying for consolation and comfort as much as Loki was comfortable with himself. 

"You know," Tony stared down at Loki's fingers slipping into Tony's, "that siren didn't taint everything though." 

"Oh?"

"They never got to kiss me. That was all you." 

Loki's mouth curled upwards at one corner. "So it was."

"So I think maybe I could safely do with more of that. You know. Until I feel up to the rest. You might have to really work to get my mind off tonight."

"I'm up to the challenge, certainly." 

A challenge Loki would easily win, Tony was sure, and that was how he wanted it.

**Author's Note:**

> HEY LOOK, IT'S A [STARSDIDATHING FIC](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16250933) TOO. It very much amuses me how different we went from each other in just setting alone. xP


End file.
